Bolts Fall 13-12 to Turlock in Overtime Thriller

TURLOCK, Calif. - After falling 14-13 to the Arizona Storm in their previous league match, the Anaheim Bolts suffered yet another cruel defeat on Friday night, losing 13-12 in overtime of a meeting with hosts Turlock Express that seemed all but won with less than 20 second to go in the fourth quarter. Jose Barajas provided the dramatic equalizer for Turlock, and the home side went on to win on a goal by striker Ivan Campos, who had a total of four tallies in the match.

Anaheim attacking ace Adriano de Lima turned in a standout performance in the Pacific Division showdown, but his five tallies weren't enough to keep the Bolts from dropping to 2-2 on the season.

Turlock showed clinical finishing in an overall even opening quarter, a brace from striker Bronil Koochoie and a powerful right-footed volley by Campos seeing the hosts jump out to a 3-1 lead. Brazilian De Lima had temporarily leveled the match for Anaheim following a beautiful combination play with Zach Bautista.

With the Bolts trailing by two to start the second quarter, it was obvious their confidence had taken a hit, as they quickly fell behind 6-1 on tallies by Campos, Roberto Casta"=B1eda and Arturo Pulido. However, Lilavois' men showed impressive morale to bounce back from the frustrating stretch and close out the period with a 4-1 run.

Jose Gomez and Orlando Alcaraz each scored for the visitors, Alcaraz' determined solo run and well-taken shot inside the post ranking as one of the highlights of the quarter. Teammate De Lima added goals two and three to his account to cut the overall deficit to 7-5. Anaheim finished off the first half with three unanswered strikes after Turlock 's Campos put away his second of the quarter.

The game's fiercely contested third period saw each side finding the net three times, De Lima, Tommy Antunovich and player-coach Lilavois scoring for the Bolts while Uriel Robledo, Sammy Saldate and Pulido struck at the other end. Each side had one especially memorable tally in the quarter, as Turlock 's Robledo finished off a textbook combination play with Campos, and Lilavois netted on a beautiful heel flick to cut the visitors' overall disadvantage to 10-8.

At the time of Lilavois' highlight-reel goal, the fans at the Turlock Indoor Soccer Arena had already witnessed the most heated phase of the game, Anaheim 's Luis Gonzalez being shown a straight red card for voicing his frustration after he was shown a blue card and a subsequent yellow card for dissent.

The Bolts played some of their best soccer in the game's fourth quarter, which they won 4-2 for a 12-12 final score at the end of regulation time. The visitors from Southern California came within inches of taking an emotional victory, as a stunning right-footed Miguel Sanchez curler into the upper ninety and additional goals from De Lima, Lilavois and Alcaraz saw them leading by one with well under a minute to play.

However, the hosts, who had already gotten a goal from Koochoie in the quarter, refused to give up and tied the match on a Barajas strike with a mere 18 seconds left on the clock. The game's sudden-death overtime period then saw Turlock emerge victorious on a spectacular finish by Campos, who ran on to Robledo's clever flick and opened up his hip to side-foot the ball into the upper ninety.

Having suffered their second straight defeat by the closest of margins, Anaheim will need to regroup quickly in order to get back on track in Saturday's road clash with Sacramento.

Orange County's professional indoor soccer team returns home on Sunday, December 9, fora 4 p.m. PT rematch with Turlock . Tickets for the contest start at $12 and may be purchased through Ticketmaster or the Anaheim Convention Center Arena box office. For more information, please call the Bolts front office at 714-321-9898 or the Anaheim Convention Center Arena at 714-765-8980.